New iTunes Radio service gains 11M listeners; Pandora stock plunges

Likely as a result of Apple's entry into the marketplace, music streaming service Pandora's stock price has fallen as much as 10 percent from the day's start after Apple claimed to have drawn more than 11 million unique listeners to iTunes Radio. Pandora fell more than 10 percent to $24.26 at close, $0.74 less than its initial offering price. By contrast, Apple climbed nearly five percent to $490.64 on the day, with an additional after-hours rise of $2.11, following a pair of investor-friendly announcements involving the iTunes Radio listenership, plus heavy iPhone sales.

Apple's iTunes Radio feature is currently only available in the US, and uses self-generated data from track sales since the iTunes store opened. Pandora's data is also self-generated, and has been built over the last decade. Both companies promise expansion to additional markets, but it is unknown where each company stands in music rights negotiations with other countries.

The entry into the radio market by Apple couldn't come at a worse time for Pandora. In addition to court battles with ASCAP over licensing rights and a fight to lower its licensing costs, Pandora has recently priced a deal with a new issuance of stock to generate funds for operations and other acquisitions in a difficult market. Also, the company named digital ad veteran Brian McAndrews as its new CEO on September 11.

In addition to having a more complete music ecosystem, iTunes Radio is also thought to offer many times more access to major-label music than Pandora, in part due to the fight with ASCAP over licensing. Pandora is said to have about a million songs in its database, while competing services like Spotify, IHeartRadio and Slacker are said to have 13-20 million tracks. Apple is likely to have arranged licensing more along the lines of the latter services, though it hasn't confirmed the size of its radio library.

TAGS

1 Comments

Pandora Media is being carried along by almost 100% institutional ownership and they have all likely agreed to keep this profitless company afloat for their own greedy purposes. It's going to be hard for them to let this company go down when they're making so much money from it. Apple needs to sell tens of millions more iPhones and move all iPhone users over to iOS7 over the next couple of quarters and build up the iTunes Radio library and then push hard for users to join iTunes Match for ad-free iTunes Radio. I think that would bring those hedge funds carrying Pandora to their knees. There's no way Pandora should have been worth close to $30 a share. How about $8 or $9. Take one look at Pandora's fundamentals and you'd see why. Nothing but minuses. I think the hedge funds will eventually flee Pandora in droves once the key investors go.

Login Here

Please note that it takes a couple of minutes for new comments to be visible in this area.

&nbsp

Now AAPL Stock: 112.12 ( + 1.09 )

Cirrus creates Lightning-headphone dev kit

Apple supplier Cirrus Logic has introduced a MFi-compliant new development kit for companies interested in using Cirrus' chips to create Lightning-based headphones, which -- regardless of whether rumors about Apple dropping the analog headphone jack in its iPhone this fall -- can offer advantages to music-loving iOS device users. The kit mentions some of the advantages of an all-digital headset or headphone connector, including higher-bitrate support, a more customizable experience, and support for power and data transfer into headphone hardware. Several companies already make Lightning headphones, and Apple has supported the concept since June 2014. http://bit.ly/29giiZj

Share

Developer162d

Apple Store app offers Procreate Pocket

The Apple Store app for iPhone, which periodically rewards users with free app gifts, is now offering the iPhone "Pocket" version of drawing app Procreate for those who have the free Apple Store app until July 28. Users who have redeemed the offer by navigating to the "Stores" tab of the app and swiping past the "iPhone Upgrade Program" banner to the "Procreate" banner have noted that only the limited Pocket (iPhone) version of the app is available free, even if the Apple Store app is installed and the offer redeemed on an iPad. The Pocket version currently sells for $3 on the iOS App Store. [32.4MB]

Share

162d

Porsche adds CarPlay to 2017 Panamera

Porsche has added a fifth model of vehicle to its CarPlay-supported lineup, announcing that the 2017 Panamera -- which will arrive in the US in January -- will include Apple's infotainment technology, and be seen on a giant 12.3-inch touchscreen as part of an all-new Porsche Communication Management system. The luxury sedan starts at $99,900 for the 4S model, and scales up to the Panamera Turbo, which sells for $146,900. Other vehicles that currently support CarPlay include the 2016 911 and the 2017 models of Macan, 718 Boxster, and 718 Cayman. The company did not mention support for Google's corresponding Android Auto in its announcement. http://bit.ly/295ZQ94

Share

Industry162d

Apple employees testing wheelchair features

New features included in the forthcoming watchOS 3 are being tested by Apple retail store employees, including a new activity-tracking feature that has been designed with wheelchair users in mind. The move is slightly unusual in that, while retail employees have previously been used to test pre-release versions of OS X and iOS, this marks the first time they've been included in the otherwise developer-only watchOS betas. The company is said to have gone to great lengths to modify the activity tracker for wheelchair users, including changing the "time to stand" notification to "time to roll" and including two wheelchair-centric workout apps. http://bit.ly/2955JDa

Share

Troubleshooting162d

SanDisk reveals two 256GB microSDXC cards

SanDisk has introduced two 256GB microSDXC cards. Arriving in August for $150, the Ultra microSDXC UHS-I Premium Edition card offers transfer speeds of up to 95MB/s for reading data. The Extreme microSDXC UHS-I card can read at a fast 100MB/s and write at up to 90MB/s, and will be shipping sometime in the fourth quarter for $200. http://bit.ly/294Q1If

Share

Upgrades/storage163d

Apple's third-quarter results due July 26

Apple has advised it will be issuing its third-quarter results on July 26, with a conference call to answer investor and analyst queries about the earnings set to take place later that day. The stream of the call will go live at 2pm PT (5pm ET) via Apple's investor site, with the results themselves expected to be released roughly 30 minutes before the call commences. Apple's guidance for the quarter put revenue at between $41 billion and $43 billion. http://apple.co/1oi1Pbm

Share

Investor164d

Twitter stickers slowly roll out to users

Twitter has introduced "stickers," allowing users to add extra graphical elements to their photos before uploading them to the micro-blogging service. A library of hundreds of accessories, props, and emoji will be available to use as stickers, which can be resized, rotated, and placed anywhere on the photograph. Images with stickers will also become searchable with viewers able to select a sticker to see how others use the same graphic in their own posts. Twitter advises stickers will be rolling out to users over the next few weeks, and will work on both the mobile apps and through the browser. http://bit.ly/29bbwUE